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High time to reform forest management |
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September 22, 2017 |
By U.S. Congressman Raul Labrador
This year will go down as one of the worst fire
seasons in U.S. history. With fires still
burning across the West, federal wildfire
spending has reached $2.4 billion – topping the
previous record of $2.1 billion in 2015.
This year’s fires have prompted emergency
declarations by governors in Idaho, Oregon,
Washington, Montana and California. Almost
50,000 wildfires have been reported, consuming
over 8.5 million acres and hundreds of homes.
Almost 600,000 acres have burned in Idaho.
Idahoans have endured terrible smoke, as air
quality reached very unhealthy and even
hazardous levels. Students were forced inside
for recess, and athletic practices and games
cancelled. The Idaho Department of Environmental
Quality issued a statewide air quality alert
banning all open burning – the first statewide
ban since 2015.
The 2015 fire season set the record for acres
burned – over 10 million. Unfortunately,
Congress didn’t heed the warning and acknowledge
federal forest management practices are failing.
Unsurprisingly, we’re seeing more massive fires
wreck our forests, water, wildlife and
communities.
I’m hopeful that another record fire season will
finally prompt Congress to improve forest
health, combat catastrophic fires and restore
sensible multiple-use management.
Actually, the House has acted, passing the
Resilient Federal Forests Act last year. But the
Senate didn’t take up the bill.
The good news is the House continues to advance
the legislation, with the Natural Resources
Committee approving the bipartisan measure in
June. As an original cosponsor, I have publicly
called on House leadership to schedule a floor
vote. H.R. 2936 is authored by Rep. Bruce
Westerman, R-Ark.
The bill acknowledges that wildfires on federal
lands should be treated like all other natural
disasters. The legislation provides immediate
tools to fight fires, remove dangerous fuels,
replant burned forests, and reform how we pay
for firefighting.
The Forest Service says 30 percent of its land,
about 58 million acres, is at high risk or very
high risk of severe wildfire – an area larger
than Idaho. In the past 20 years, 349 people
have died because of wildfires and in the past
decade about 37,000 structures have been
destroyed.
The Resilient Federal Forests Act simplifies
procedural requirements and reduces planning
times, while continuing to protect the
environment. The bill provides incentives for
collaboration, creates a pilot program to use
binding arbitration to resolve legal challenges,
and accelerates habitat improvement for
wildlife.
The Forest Service is so busy trying to fend off
lawsuits from environmentalists that it suffers
from a “process predicament.” The result,
according to an internal agency report, is the
Forest Service “has trouble fulfilling its
historic mission to sustain the health,
diversity, and productivity of the nation’s
forests and grasslands to meet the needs of
present and future generations.”
That’s simply unacceptable. It’s time Congress
to curtail frivolous lawsuits and enact other
reforms to protect public resources, lives and
property before the 2018 fire season. Failure to
act simply guarantees more catastrophic fires.
For more on H.R. 2935,
click here. |
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